This article was originally featured on the K3S blog and is published here with permission.

There’s a saying in purchasing that when the inventory in the warehouse is lean, sales is doing a great job. When the warehouse is overstocked, there must be a problem with purchasing. That’s the world we live in.

Running a profitable company in this economy is as much about keeping inventory lean as it is about boosting sales. 

“What are the top 5 factors you consider when deciding to partner with a supplier?”

Procurious, a online community for procurement professionals, recently posed this question to your peers in one of their forums.

Procurement personnel from all over the world answered with their top factors that they use to decide upon suppliers. Interestingly enough, the discussion was weighted pretty heavily on one factor — trust. Trust, of course, encompasses a lot of different things, but there were almost 3x as many answers for this one factor than any of the others.

All of these responses could be grouped into about five different main priorities.

 Want to advance your career?  We all do.

Part of growing and advancing to your next role requires learning.  Go to school, master a new skill.  Naturally, the more experienced you are, the more valued you become-- in your current job and in your next.

The other part of professional development all comes down to networking.  When it comes to landing that perfect job, sometimes what matters more is who you know, not what you know.

Whether you're on the job hunt or just looking to continue to grow professionally, these resources are a must for anyone in the procurement field.  

Learn what you want to know and connect you with who you want to know.

... Why Leaders Lack Emotional Intelligence

... What I Have Learned About the Demand-Driven Journey

... How Starting a New Job Is Like Dating

Of course I’m interested in those articles! They all are in my field, they help me do my job better and manage my time in the work place.

They also were all served up to me on LinkedIn Pulse, because LinkedIn knows exactly the topics that I want to learn more about. And just how do they know? Because I’ve followed the right LinkedIn Pulse channels.

Today, I want to help you find and follow articles on LinkedIn that you’re going to love reading every day.

You know that when it comes to choosing bulk ingredient suppliers, getting the lowest price isn’t everything.

In the last 10 years, the procurement industry has focused more on getting value-- real value-- from their vendors and suppliers. Most would even list this as a top priority when choosing a new partner.

How do you define value? A valuable supplier is one that partners with you, rather than just trying to sell you something. They bring something to the table that helps you improve your own business.

When it comes to choosing an edible oil supplier, here’s the 4 most important traits we think every oil supplier needs to bring to the table to prove their own worth.

This article was originally featured on the K3S Blog, and is published here with permission.

Over the last few years, wholesalers have been blessed with paying historically low interest rates on their inventory. But according to a top official at the Federal Reserve, all of that is about to change. Is your inventory ready? Even a small increase in these interest rates will have a dramatic effect on your bottom line.

Smarter inventory replenishment is one solution to help shield you from these potentially catastrophic effects.

Here are 5 relatively simple steps you can take to ensure your inventory does not become a liability as these rates increase.

If your manufacturing company is making the switch to non-GMO oil ingredients for your food products, you’re not alone.

Right now, food manufacturers across the US are busy swapping out the raw ingredients they’ve become familiar with for their non-GMO alternatives.

Others are in the midst of getting their products Non-GMO Project Verified™. To top it off, the majority of Whole Foods vendors are also making the switch to non-GMO ingredients, due to their 2018 cut off date for GMO labeling transparency.

We work with many Whole Foods vendors who manufacture their own natural or specialty food, so we’ve walked through this non-GMO transition process many times already with business just like yours. We also know it can be a bit of a complex change.

To make your new product development process a little bit easier, here’s a step-by-step guide for food manufacturers on how to swap your conventional ingredients out for their Non-GMO counterparts.

There are lots of decisions to be made when it comes to buying edible oils and fats for your manufacturing company. 

How do you go about beginning to tackle these choices, and make the best moves for your business?

It’s helpful to start the decision process with a little feedback-- peer feedback that is. Understanding what's important to your procurement peers when they buy bulk oils can be helpful. What factors did they look at? What influenced their decisions?

Your peers have been in your shoes and they can provide insight that no one else can– they often hold the key to helping you make the best decisions.

Professional development is about always learning and growing in your role.

Education allows you to improve, and can help achieve your goals the job that you’re already in. It also sets you up to have a better chance at promotions in the future.

Education comes in many forms though. Once in a steady career, classroom education becomes less of a norm, as self-directed learning takes its place. While self-directed learning can mean many things, like webinars, seminars, industry conferences, etc., reading industry books is one of my favorite tools.

Books are great way to stay on top of your self-training all year round and direct your own growth.

The 7 titles below are top rated procurement and purchasing books available on Amazon, written for professionals just like yourself. Explore and enjoy!

This article was originally posted in 2015, and is being re-published in preparation for the new year.

Last year, I ran a half marathon. But I didn’t just go out and do it. I made a 16 week plan of the runs that I was going to do every day, and how I was going to build up to my 13.1 mile finish.

Professional goals are no different than personal goals like these, but professional goal setting often falls by the wayside. It’s important do strategic goal setting, both for your job and for your department -- especially if you manage other people.

Your professional goals also need a plan-- a course of action, or a list of small daily steps you’re going to take to help accomplish these goals. Here’s how to plan for improvement in 2015.

Setting goals is an important step to improving.

There are, of course, a number of different kinds of goals. You have personal goals for your life, and you have professional goals for your job. But they’re always entangled, some taking priority over others depending on the day.

The best way to achieve all of them is to lay them out separately, prioritize them, and then make a plan for how you can achieve every one.

Here’s a smart framework for purchasing managers to complete your goal setting for 2015-- not just for your job but also for your life.

As most purchasers already know, an RFQ is a "request for quote".  Why do these RFQs benefit manufactures?

The real benefit comes at the end, when a supply contract is signed to cover the companies ingredient needs over the period. An RFQ is a simple, great way for manufacturers to get the lowest bulk oil price possible and reap a number of other benefits in the process.

In fact, we see 3 major benefits that manufactures get from doing an RFQ for their annual volumes, and signing a contract for their ingredient needs.  But first, we'll review what an RFQ is.